The Sorting Hat (Book One in the ALBUS series)
by becca.supple.3
Summary: The first book in the ALBUS series, which centers on Harry's son Albus Potter throughout his years at Hogwarts. Plenty of new characters, as well as refrenced to the Harry Potter books. Full of adventure and magic!
1. Chapter 1

This story is set directly after the end of the epilogue.

Chapter one - The Sorting

Albus turned away from the window after one last wave to his mum and dad. He then looked across the aisle to where his cousin Rose was sitting.

"Excited?" He asked. "I know I am..."

"I just hope I'm not put into slytherin like dad suggested," she said, "It would break the family chain."

"Don't worry," Albus said, "You won't - " just then he was interrupted by a sound of snickering outside the door. They went to see what it was.

"Scorpius!" Rose said under her breath, "My dad warned me about him..."

"I wonder why?" Said a sarcastic Scorpius as he slid open the compartment. " I'm ever so lovable!" A group of people sniggered behind him. "So you're Potter's son?" He commented as he looked Albus up and down.

"So?" Rose butted in, sticking up for her cousin. " what's it to you?"

" oh, and you must be the young weasel!" Scorpius announced " I wonder how I didn't realize at first? That signature red hair, the hand me down robes, I should have guessed."

"It's Weasley." Rose narrowed her eyes.

" Get lost, why don't you?" Albus shoved Scorpius out of the compartment, and shut the door. " So glad he's finally gone."

"I have a feeling he will not be our best friend at Hogwarts." Rose said, not sounding the least bit regretful.

The rest of the train trip passed uneventfully and they soon arrived at the great castle of Hogwarts. They were loaded onto the boats by a large, no a very large, man named Hagrid. Rose and Albus spent the entire way there discussing what house they thought they would be in. Albus was positive he would be a hufflepuff, and Rose wanted to be a Griffindor, but Albus said he thought she might also be Ravenclaw. They nervously sat as the boats continued to make their ways to the castle.

As Rose, Albus, and the rest of the first years stepped into the great hall, one could hear many " oohs" and " aahs".

" Welcome to Hogwarts!" Said the headmistress of Hogwarts, professor McGonogall, a witch in her early seventies. She took her pointed hat off of her head, and placed it on a stool in front of her.

To Rose' s surprise, it started to sing.

_Here at Hogwarts we have a tradition well known_

_To be sorted my me to your house, or your home_

_There are four houses, as I'm sure you can see, _

_And each one is represented by certain qualities._

_For brave Griffindor, the ones who hold courage through all_

_Who fight for what's right and do not fear to fall_

_The kind go to Hufflepuff, where friendship abounds_

_In that area there is always a caring soul to be found._

_The smart and the wise belong in Ravenclaw,_

_For when it comes down to wits, they're the ones to call_

_And last but definitely not least, no we couldn't say that_

_Slytherin always sets its sights high and won't give up for splat._

_And know that you know what each place means,_

_I will sort you by your hopes and by your dreams._

"Will the first years please ready themselves for sorting?" McGonogall announced. All of the children were extremely nervous, as Albus could tell by the many tapping feet and twiddling thumbs. After listening to cheers from Ravenclaw as Forrest, Emmet was sorted there, Malfoy, Scorpius headed up to the hat.

Even before being placed on his head, at about a foot away, the hat shouted " Hufflepuff!" The room gasped. " No, I'm not joking!" Said a slightly annoyed sorting hat, " I said Hufflepuff!" The Hufflepuff table gave halfhearted cheers as Scorpius trudged over to their table.

" Potter, Albus!" McGonogall read off of her list. The Griffindor table gave a cheer, as if they knew where Albus would end up.

Albus carefully made his way to the stool where the hat lay, and placed it on top of his head.

_Hmmmm... _The hat spoke to him, as if in his thoughts. _Another potter? You guys are difficult decisions! Lets see, not much courage here, not too many smarts either..._

_Hey! _Albus butted in.

_No,no... Definitely not Hufflepuff material, definitely not... Lets see here, what do you want most in life?_

_I guess I've always wanted to make my parents proud of me _Albus thought

_Oh well in that case... _"Slytherin!"

Albus wrenched the hat off of his head and looked around the hall. You could hear a pin drop as he walked over and sat down at the Slytherin table. He looked over at Rose, who made a confused face. He then turned back towards the sorting hat and cheered with the rest of his house as Crabbe, Daphne joined their table. She sat down next to him.

" Hey!" She said to him, her arm reached out for a handshake. He shook back. "I'm Daphne, and you are..."

" Albus Potter." He said, still dumbstruck by this girl's obvious confidence.

"OMG! Is your dad Harry Potter?" She squealed

" yes," Albus realized she was probably just another one of his dad's fan club fanatics.

" Because then my dad knew your dad! He talks about your dad like aaaaaalllllll the time!" Daphne let out another high pitched squeal.

"Cool" Albus replied, thinking how maybe he could get to like this perky girl. He was about to continue when he heard McGonogall announce Weasley, Rose across the room. "That's my cousin." He said to Daphne.

" I hope she's in slytherin, too!" She gushed, " then we could all be bffls forever! Oooh, look! They're putting the sorting hat on her!"

Albus and Daphne watched as the hat was placed on Rose's head. " Dumbledore!" The hat announced before splitting open and falling to the ground.

**Authors note - I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and remember to review! I do not own Harry Potter or any characters or places or ideas created by J K Rowling. I will accept suggestions, but as I feel I have the plot of The Sorting Hat mainly figured out, I ask for suggestions for later books. Thank you for reading!**

**- becca**


	2. Chapter 2

The whole hall fell silent as Rose stood up, and turned to look at the sorting hat, which was now starting to smoke. Headmistress McGonogall had nearly fainted. Then, just as Rose started to back away from the hat, it spun up into the air.

_Now you may think " oh no she's gone mad!"_

_But I'll assure you, I'm not that bad_

_What you think of as a simple hat_

_Is a mastermind, and quite evil at that!_

_While I sit around all year, waiting for this day_

_You regard me as old, something that need not stay_

_I heard you McGonogall, every word that you said_

_Each insult you mutter, even the ones in your head_

_And now I think the time has come for me_

_To tell you all what is to be_

_I will rule Hogwarts, and what's more_

_You don't have a clue what's in store!_

And as the hat prepared to start another verse, the defense against the dark arts professor shouted a splitting threads jinx. A purple flash blinded Albus, and when he looked back up, he could see that the hat had been torn to pieces. The hall cheered and a few even grabbed pieces of the old hat, including Daphne.

" Daphne!" Albus cried, " What are you doing!?"

" Just collecting a few keepsakes for my scrap book!" She said cheerfully, as she put the scraps into her pocket. " Oh look! Hey I know you, you must be Rose!" She pulled Rose over to the Slytherin table.

" Hey, Rose" Albus stuttered. He was still shaken up from the hat incident. Not exactly something one would expect, you know? " This is my friend," daphne shot him a look, "um, I mean biff-ell (is that it?) Daphne." He pointed to Daphne, who ran over and gave Rose a big hug.

" OMG! We are like totally gonna all be bffls now!" She paused, looking around, and then whispered, "that whole hat thing was kinda creepy though, right!? I mean, I love adventure just as much as the next guy," she said, pointing to Albus, who was still shaking and pale, " okay, maybe not that guy, but still, that was pretty intense!"

"Daphne, are you really just gonna blow this off?!" Rose exclaimed, freaking out. " I still have no house!"

"OMG!" Daphne realized. She ran up to McGonogall, who waved her off.

" Not now, Miss Crabbe." She said irritably. She went back to conversing with the rest of the professors. Daphne waited, but it seemed as if it wasn't in her personality to be patient. She looked like she was doing the potty dance. Albus and Rose chuckled at her strained face.

Daphne couldn't wait for anything any longer than five minutes. She timed herself one time. After five minutes were up, she burst. "McGonogall!" She yelped "Professor!"

"Miss Crabbe!" McGonogall turned on her "Ten points from Slytherin! Now shoo!"

Daphne stomped away to the Slytherin table, where Albus comforted her. Rose stood a few feet away in a huff.

Albus thought about what the hat did. It was unlike it to go against orders. And the creators of Hogwarts wouldn't be dumb enough to make a temporary spell, right? Right? "Right!?" Albus yelled. Daphne and Rose gave him a strange look. It was interrupted when Daphne saw that the professors had stopped talking.

" Professor McGonogall!" Daphne ran over to her, " rose doesn't have a house!"

"Hmmmmmm..." McGonogall thought out loud. " you seem to like her very much... Slytherin!"

"Eeee! " daphne squealed as she ran back to Albus and Rose. " Rosie!" Daphne gave her friend a big hug " you're in Slytherin with us!"

The rest of the night passed without incident, and as the prefects led them to the Slytherin Common Room, Daphne couldn't stop talking.

" Omg Rose we have to be in the same dorm!" Daphne tipped as she ran up the stairs to the girls dorm. She and rose got dressed for bed, and Daphne practically dropped dead as soon as she hit the pillow. Rose sat in bed for a while thinking how disappointed her parents would be when she wrote them about this latest event.

The next morning, Rose woke up to Daphne shaking her violently. "Rose!" She yelled as she ran around the room.

"What?" Rose said groggily.

"My robes! They're missing!"

**Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter. This may not seem like a big cliffhanger, but I assure you it is very important to the story line! So review, and then next week, I will have the next chapter out!**

**-becca**


	3. Chapter 3

"So what?" Rose moaned as she got out of bed. "You have, like, four pairs."

"But these are the ones that have the piece of the hat in them!" Daphne cried.

"I'm sure you just misplaced them." Rose pulled on her robes " now lets go get Albus and then go eat."

They hurried down to the common room, where they met up with Albus. As they ran up the stairs to the Great Hall, they bumped into a girl who was clutching the railings. Albus went over to her.

"Hi." He said. Albus was always trying to be everyone's friend. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." The girl whispered " just sc-sc-scared of heights"

"It's okay!" Daphne ran over to the girl, pulling Rose with her. "I'm Daphne!" She announced, rather loudly, in the shy girl's face. "What's your name?" She bounced up and down, clutching Albus's arm.

The girl looked, to Albus, who nodded encouragingly. " Dana..." She muttered.

"C'mon, then Dana!" Daphne grabbed her and pulled her up the stairs, Dana shrieking in fright, "Breakfast ain't gonna last forever!"

Rose sighed and followed her cousin and friend up the stairs. She knew how this girl, Dana was it?, felt. She too felt somewhat intimidated by Daphne at first. And she still kind of did. But she was getting used to her excitement and obsessive usage of exclamation marks. Rose thought about Dana's name. She was pretty sure she remembered she had been sorted into Gryffindor the night before, but she wasn't sure. Why would Dana be in Gryffindor if she had a fear of heights? Then again, the sorting hat wasn't really at its best that night... Rose ended her thought process as they entered the Great Hall. She confirmed her beliefs as Dana waved to Albus and shuffled over to the Gyffindor table.

As soon as Daphne had noticed her robes were missing, she had had a suspicious feeling. She was just thinking it had something to do with the sorting hat piece she had stuffed in her pocket. She was mulling this over when she heard a boy at the Hufflepuff table telling his friends how he had lost his robes from last night. Daphne ran over and tapped the boy on the shoulder. Scorpius turned around.

"What?!" He snapped as he spun around. A prefect sitting next to him gave him a reproachful look. "It's you."

"I heard you saying you lost your robes last night"

"What's it to you?"

"I lost my robes too!"

"Whoop de doo!" Scorpius said sarcastically.

"Did you happen to have a piece of the sorting hat in your pocket?"

"So what?"

"Well..." Daphne was about to continue when she heard a familiar shriek from across the room. When she looked up, Dana was being held in the air by a mix match of black fabric pieces. The sorting hat had come back.

**Authors note: sorry for the shirt chapter and the delay. I assume by now you have figured out where scorpius' and Daphne's robes have gone. If not, you will find out soon! I want to thank Lilly for a cool character idea. It really helped me with the plot! I do not own Harry Potter.**


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